Nice. I wonder how the Slams won would add up. I think Graf would have more if you count the total, especially with Navratilova owning something like 60 Slam titles.
Graf's total would grow by a TON if you did this. Both Evert and Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles each, after all.
Not that I'm supporting TJ's line of thought here, mind you.
I mean, I appreciate the research you did here, TJ, but I don't really think you can work out who had a harder time winning their respective Grand Slam tourneys by diminishing each of their competitors to "Grand Slam winner" or "not a Grand Slam winner."
Anyway, that wasn't really the point of my comment. I wasn't trying to say "Steffi's path to her calendar year GS was so much tougher than Serena's path to her Serena Slam." What I was trying to do was simply point out that Steffi faced some really good competition on her way to her Golden Slam.
Was Evert past her prime in 1988? Of course, but she was still ranked 3 in the world and wasn't far from her best. Plus, all that really matters about that match (and tournament) is that Steffi won it and it started her on the path to the calendar year GS. Really, coming back to beat Martina in the Wimbledon final that year and her ultimate win over Sabatini in the US Open final are the real highlights of that particular run of Steffi's.
Regardless, maybe we should agree to disagree here. Also, maybe we should agree that both runs--and both women--are unquestionably amazing? That's really the main point to be made here, if you ask me